SEGOVIA, August 5, 2015
Three second round matches as well as the remaining first round encounter took place on Day 3 of the € 42,500 ATP Challenger Open Castillo y León in El Espinar.
Yannick Mertens defeated eighth seed Alexander Kudryavtsev, winning 6-2, 6-2. The 28-year-old Belgian, who has already captured three ITF Future titles this season, didn’t face a break point and won 92% of his first service points to reach his third consecutive quarterfinals on the ATP Challenger Tour after only 48 minutes. Mertens made it to the stage of the final eight in Recanati as well as Astana and will take on the winner of the match between top-seed Marcel Granollers and Georgi Rumenov Payakov.
“It was pretty windy out there, which didn’t make it easy to play,” Mertens said. “I know my opponent and that he has a very aggressive game, but I was very solid,” the 28-year-old Belgian was happy with his performance.
Egor Gerasimov defeated David Guez, winning 7-6, 6-4. The qualifier from Belarus won 69% of his first service points and converted four of his seven break point chances to prevail in one hour and 53 minutes. Gerasimov has advanced to this first Challenger quarterfinals since he reached this stage in Kolkatta in February.
Marco Chiudinelli
Gerasimov will face Marco Chiudinelli in the quarterfinals. The 33-year-old Swiss beat Denys Molchanov, winning 6-2, 7-6. Chiudinelli won 73% of his second service points and capitalized on three of his ten break point chances to seal victory in one hour and 31 minutes.
“The first set was fluent and efficient,” Chiudinelli told. “In the second, I had to come back from a break down, which helped me to wake up and then I continued to play well. Later, I struggled a bit to close the match in the tie-break but finally I was able to do so and I am pleased to reach the next round.”
In the remaining first round match, 2012 champion Evgeny Donskoy defeated Jorge Hernando Ruano, who played his very first ATP Challenger singles main draw match, winning 6-4, 6-2 in only 52 minutes. “It’s never easy to play at this altitude but I felt good with my game throughout the match,” Donskoy told and will face Adrián Menéndez Maceiras next.
